When we see experienced artists make drawings without even looking at a reference and at an epic level of excellence our brain explodes. How is it possible that someone can do something like that?! The immediate example, the artist (God) Kim Jung Gi from South Korea. If you have seen any of his videos, you will understand immediately what I am talking about. It's not that he draw without references, he starts directly by a corner of a wall and fill it with ton of characters, all in perfect perspective and at an extraordinary level of detail.

(Below I leave a video in case you have lived under a rock for the last years and you did not know it)

This level is partly thanks to the technique of this great artist, of course, but I would say that 80% of its achievement is due to the great control it has of its visual library.Before I continue to throw these two words to your face, I will try to clarify the concept.

The visual library is everything you accumulate over time in your memory that can serve as a reference. Paintings, photos, movies, patterns, designs etc.

This is extremely important for all artists, but especially for concept artists since their job is to constantly pull things out of their head. It is very difficult to put someone to draw an epic fantasy knight killing a dragon if he only see things related to sports, for example. It is not impossible, of course, but he surely will end up drawing the most common symbology to represent these elements, and he won't try to do something more "original".We all have within this symbology associated with different elements since children, due to the torrent of information that we face daily, do not misunderstand me, it can be very helpful. But the client will usually hire you to do something "original" and it is important to feed your visual memory to be able to do this.

Returning to the master Kim, in the words of the same artist, he spends all his time observing new content, nourishing this library, living new experiences. Of course, having exceptional memory helps a lot.I do not know how accurate this observation is, but many times I process the images in my head as if it were a mental photomontage (?) While reading the description of a new piece, I am mounting the image in my head taking interesting details from different sites of my memory. Then I just have to do the painting, maybe some sketches to retain that first impression.

For example, for this piece, It was very clear for me from the beginning what I wanted to do. I had only recently seen The Witch, with its limited color palette, the soft lighting, lack of contrast and so on. Also added to the mix some pieces of concept art by Jaime Jones from Destiny that gave me a more complette idea. And all that originated this illustration.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

You need to grow this tool, it is vital not to stop consuming new material. Apart from the entertainment that presents a movie or series, try to get the most out of the material presented to you. Even (mostly) poor quality films, which usually start in their great majority from interesting concepts and get twisted in their execution. If you stick with the good ideas, then you can take advantage of them in your work. Sometimes I find it very difficult to enjoy a movie because my mind is focused on the visual part, designs, photography, etc. But oh well.

There are also very interesting tools that not only help you expand your library, but keep all those resources close at hand. Pinterest is one of the best known and is wonderful. I will not explain how it works, but seriously, start using it now if you don’t do it already.

The second part of working with your visual library is simply applying those new elements you are archiving. In the same way that writing helps to remember ideas better. Drawing will help you keep a better memory of those new resources. Try to apply them in your portfolio and in your studies. As often as possible.

tip (?):One of the sources that I like to exploit more are books. Although I put it aside because they work differently, and I'm not sure that it will help expand the library, but rather to explore ideas. Many times when we are reading a book we have a very specific idea of what a certain character looks like is our heads, then if we are going back to the actual literal description from its author, it has nothing to do with that first image you got. But you can always use that first impression as your own plus you already know the character so well!. The same goes for places or atmospheres.

For now, this is it. The entry is already longer than I planned (again). Surely I have something left in the inkwell, but I have to go back to work!As always if you have any questions or suggestions, I will try to answer them as soon as possible in the comment session below!See you araound guys!

Hey guys, This post should be short, just to share some art. First, another cover for the Legend of Oescienne books from Jenna E. Johnson. Front a back, as usual in these series. The book Tales of Oescienne is sort of a Spin Off from the main serie, and tells short stories about the characters, really fun tales, I really recommend you to read it ;)

That's all for now (like a said, a short one) BTW I'm working in my next video review, this time for traditional artists! if you are interested, don't forget to subscribe here and to my Youtube channel ;)